


Watching in the Wings

by helsinkibaby



Category: Fame (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Unrequited Love, post ep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-29
Updated: 2008-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:47:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26413642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Leroy always knew that one day he’d sit in a Broadway theatre and see Nicole Chapman on the stage in front of him.
Relationships: Leroy Johnson/Nicole Chapman





	Watching in the Wings

**Author's Note:**

> For the writers choice challenge 268 “smile”.

Leroy always knew that one day he’d sit in a Broadway theatre and see Nicole Chapman on the stage in front of him. He didn’t expect it to be so soon, and he’s not so sure he approves of her leaving school to do it, but she is his friend, and he is curious, so he makes a phone call, books himself a ticket.

He’s not prepared to be told that the leading lady isn’t going on that night, that her understudy – Nicole – will be taking her place, and if the lady in the ticket office is surprised at how quickly, how firmly, he tells her that yes, he does still want a ticket, then she’s professional enough not to show it.

He dresses himself up, heads to the theatre, and sees Nicole in her first starring role, and when he makes his way backstage later, he’s not quite sure what to tell her. She was good – Nicole is always good – but he knows she could have been better.

He’s not in her dressing room for long before he realises that she knows it too.

So he’s not surprised when, at the final round of auditions, he sees her waiting in the wings. He goes over to her, reminds her that she doesn’t have to audition, that they’ll re-admit her no matter what, but Nicole, stubborn as ever, insists that she wants to earn this.

Confident, head high, she takes her place at centre stage, belts out a song with the lights shining down upon her, and a hush seems to fall around the auditorium. Everyone stops what they are doing to listen to her, to look at her, and in that instant, Leroy knows for sure that despite whatever knocks her confidence might have taken lately, Nicole Chapman is a lady with star written all over her.

He smiles, because the performance is that good, because he’s proud of her, proud that she was able to realise and admit her mistake, wasn’t too proud to come back here, audition again. He thinks, not for the first time, that she’s one in a million, thinks, also not for the first time, a few more disloyal thoughts, considering that her boyfriend is one of his closest friends.

And because her boyfriend is one of his closest friends, he pushes those thoughts away.

But then she looks over at him mid-song, and she smiles, a smile meant just for him.

And just like that, they all come back.  



End file.
